We continue with the series of articles “Learn to evangelize with the Apostle Paul”. Was it adapted from the e-book? By John Crotts, available for free download. In the previous publication, Crotts shared Paul’s first strategy for evangelizing religious; and in this article you will explain in more detail the second strategy: teaching Christ from the scriptures.
Paul, according to his custom, went looking for them and, for three Saturdays, reasoned with them about the scriptures, exposing and demonstrating that it was necessary for Christ to suffer and rise from the dead; and this, he said, is Christ, Jesus, whom I announce to you (Acts 17:2-3).
- Jesus had also been an assistant in the synagogue.
- Luke recounts that “on his way to Nazareth.
- Where he was raised.
- He entered the synagogue on a Sabbath.
- According to his custom.
- And rose to read” (Luke 4:16).
Paul’s custom to attend the synagogue and seize it as an opportunity for the gospel is well established in the historical archives. Here are three examples among many others:
When they arrived in Salamine, they proclaimed the word of God in jewish synagogues; they also had John as an assistant (Acts 13:5).
But they, going from Perge to Pisidian Antioch, going to the synagogue on a Saturday, they sat down. After reading the law and the prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent them a message: Brothers, if you have words of exhortation for the People, say so, Paulo, getting up and waving your hand for silence, said? (Acts 13: 14-16)
When they left, they were asked to say the same words the following Saturday. Farewell to the synagogue, many Jews and pious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas and, speaking to them, persuaded them to persevere in the grace of God (Acts of Acts). 13: 42-43) 3
For Paul, the synagogue was not simply a place of worship or to appreciate some of the Jewish culture that was familiar to him, while traveling through the Roman Empire. Instead, Paul was on a mission. He visited the synagogues for the sole purpose of discussing the scriptures, to show that Jesus was the Messiah the Jews expected. As we’ll see later, there’s something in this model that we can apply.
Based on the content of the letters to the Thessalonikis, it seems that Paul’s stay, though relatively brief, was longer than the three Saturdays mentioned in Acts 17:2. He certainly worked in the city long enough to set a standard that others could emulate. . ” For remember, brethren, our work and our weariness; and how, working day and night to live at the expense of any of you, we proclaim the gospel of God (1 Thessaloniki 2:9). enough for leaders to be tested and approved by Paul. “Now, brethren, we ask you to listen with gratitude to those who work among you and those who preside over you in the Lord and exhort you” (1 Thessaloniki 5:12). . In his letter to the Philippians, he even mentions that he was in Thessaloniki long enough to have received a gift from them (Philippians 4:16). Paul could have stayed in town for four to six months.
At first, Paul took the opportunity offered by the synagogue to discuss the scriptures with them. The root of the term used to discuss gives us the word “dialogue”. These discussions were probably not Saturday sermons, but open discussions. It wasn’t outdoor discussions. Scriptures, but discussions that were derived from the source of the scriptures. These discussions probably included a passage from the Greek version of the Old Testament, and then an exchange of ideas about its meaning, perhaps using the Q&A method. The Jews had an immediate acceptance of the authority of the scriptures, so Paul probably read specific passages from his own scrolls or books.
Today, in some parts of the West, such as Brazil or the United States, they still have enough of the Christian culture of centuries past for people to retain a general knowledge of God, creation, sin, and even the foundations of life, death. and the resurrection of Jesus. It may seem natural to use a Bible to emphasize the truths of the gospel, just as Paul did in Thessaloniki’s synagogue. Unfortunately, the problem with talking to (or supposedly?) nominal Christians is that they generally assume that a little knowledge of these basic topics of the Bible is all they need to have a good relationship with God.
These residual sections of Christianity in Western subculture, like their counterparts around the world, quickly gave way to more pagan assumptions, as Paul found in Athens. Although Paul later proclaimed biblical truths in Athens, as well as here in Thessaloniki, in this non-Jewish culture, he was not as concerned with documenting his ideas as if they came directly from the scriptures.
It is often appropriate to offer the gospel by summarizing the Bible, rather than quoting a chapter and verse; However, Paul never appeals to the use of human reason outside the scriptures, and neither should we.
Paul explained and demonstrated the need for Jesus’ death and resurrection. Explaining is “opening the meaning of something. ” Jesus, Paul’s model and teacher, had done the same by opening the meaning of Scripture to two disciples on the way to Emmaus. These disciples were surprised at what they lived. ” Then they opened their eyes and recognized him, but he disappeared from his Y they said to themselves, “Didn’t our hearts burn when he spoke to us on the way, when he exposed the scriptures to us?”(Luke 24:31-32).
Paul’s goal was to show these Jews that Jesus was the Christ who had been prophesied in his scriptures (what we call the Old Testament). Seminary professor Sidney Greidanus once crossed a green valley in South Africa while visiting a picturesque lake. come back half an hour later and see that the same valley was covered with white flowers, wondered if it could be the same place until he turned his head, when he turned, the road was all green with only a few white dots. The flowers turned to the sun. As he drive east, only a few flowers were revealed, but when the car entered the same valley, all the beautiful flowers could be seen. 5 His biblical vision can also determine the clarity of his understanding of Christ. Prophecies about the Messiah in the Old Testament were not made perennial until they were fulfilled when Christ first came.
Paul tried to make his meaning very direct and clear, just as Jesus did. To prove his point of view, Paul put what they already knew next to what he was trying to show them. The facts of the gospel are clearly rooted in the Old Testament: Paul certainly focused on the prophecies that demonstrated how Christ should die and be resurrected.
First, I have given you what I have also received: that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that He was buried and resurrected on the third day, according to the scriptures; and appeared to Cephas, then at twelve. (1 Corinthians 15: 3-5)
The Messiah’s resurrection authenticated his perfect life and death in sacrifice. God put his seal of approval on Jesus by bringing him back to life. During these weeks of discussion, Paul may have used several passages indicating that the promised Messiah should die and be Perhaps, among them, there were prophecies written hundreds of years before the coming of Jesus, such as these:
But he was pierced by our rebellions and founded by our iniquities; the punishment that peace brings us was upon him, and by his wounds we were healed. We all err like sheep; All have gone astray along the way, but the Lord has brought upon him the wickedness of all of us. You will see the fruit of the hard work of your soul and you will be satisfied; My Servant the Righteous with his knowledge will justify many, for his iniquities will bring him; therefore, I will give him on his side, and with the mighty he will share the spoils, for his soul has spread in death. ; depended on the offenders (Isaiah 53:5-6, 11-12a).
The Lord your God will bring you a prophet among your brethren, like me; you will hear it (Deuteronomy 18:15)
For ye shall not leave my soul in death, and ye shall not allow thy Holy One to see corruption (Psalm 16:10).
I will proclaim the Decree of the Lord: He said unto me, Thou art my Son, today I have begat thee; ask me, and I will give you nations by inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession (Psalm 2 : 7-8)
After establishing old Testament evidence for the Messiah’s mission, he sought to demonstrate that the historical accounts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection corresponded to all that the Old Testament had intended. He tried to show them that the historical Jesus had to be identified with the Christ of Scripture.
Can you imagine the shock these Jews experienced when Paul claimed that the Messiah should suffer and die?Jesus himself had prophesied, on several occasions, of his death and resurrection, as had Old Testament prophets whom the Jews had studied so carefully. He himself said: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly, be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes; be killed and, on the third day, resurrect?(Luke 9:22). Christ’s death and resurrection were revealed in the passages of the Old Testament and in Christ’s own words. It was certain that the prophecies would be fulfilled. For those who already accept and know the Bible and are called by the Spirit, this apology process makes sense.
After these past weeks in the synagogue, a third of Paul’s strategy emerges that we will see next week.
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John MacArthur, MacArthur Study Bible (Barueri, SP: Brazilian Bible Society), 2010.
Sidney Greidanus, Preaching the Christ of the Old Testament (Sao Paulo, SP: Editora Cultura Crist, 2006).
Stott, the message of events.